Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea

Before The Perfect Storm, before In the Heart of the Sea, Steven Callahan's Adrift chronicled one of the most astounding voyages of the century and one of the great sea adventures of all time. In some ways the model for the new wave of adventure books, Adrift is now an undeniable seafaring classic, a riveting firsthand account by the only man known to have survived for more than a month alone at sea, fighting for his life in an inflatable raft after his small sloop capsized.

Your Likes make Audible better!

Publisher's Summary

Before The Perfect Storm, before In the Heart of the Sea, Steven Callahan's Adrift chronicled one of the most astounding voyages of the century and one of the great sea adventures of all time. In some ways the model for the new wave of adventure books, Adrift is now an undeniable seafaring classic, a riveting firsthand account by the only man known to have survived for more than a month alone at sea, fighting for his life in an inflatable raft after his small sloop capsized only six days from port.

Racked by hunger, buffeted by storms, scorched by the tropical sun, Callahan drifted for 1,800 miles, fighting off sharks with a makeshift spear and watching as nine ships passed him by. "A real human drama that delves deeply into man's survival instincts (Library Journal), Adrift is a story of anguish and horror, of undying heroism, hope, and survival, and a must-read for any adventure lover.

One of the rare audiobooks that I couldn't stop listening to. The details and story is what was missing from the other sailing books I've heard. The addition of the interview with the author was a great surprise.

...to the limit cannot really be done in a training scenario no matter how serious the situation. It is only when death threatens around every corner that human ingenuity and the will to survive can be truly revealed. Callahan depicts these qualities in graphic brilliance and forces the listener to experience at least a little of what he went through.

I can see why this is a popular story and it is well written. It is so strange that the author chose to read it himself. To be fair, he does a decent job reading it - but he is literally just reading it. Remember in school as a kid, when teacher would read a story or a chapter of a book? It's like that. When people perform a book, as many of the professional narrators do, it feels like they are the character, and are speaking to you. Obviously some do a poor job, and some are (like actors can be) hams who overdo it. But there really is a big difference between how we speak and how people read aloud. It is why people memorize speeches or at least practice them rather than read them. The cadence and rhythm of how we say the sentences are completely different when reading aloud than when we speak. And there is only so much of that "being read to" feeling anyone can really take at a time, I think, since it doesn't engage you the way the performed books do.

Part of what has made audible books popular is that they are not just books read aloud, but are performed. that does not mean a big dramatic thing and over performing can wreck a book too - but the professionals can avoid that teacher-reading-to-the-class sound.

This sounds like how I would read it if you handed me the book and said read it. I think most people would sound like this. He did a good job reading it, he tries to be a bit more dramatic at the important parts, but is not a professional narrator, and it has that reading a book to you feel. I found it hard to engage as this was distracting since I have gotten so used to professional narrators. This would be a better one to read yourself I think.

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrator’s performances?

Absolutely not.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Adrift?

His describes a lengthy fantasy/dream at one point. Made me wonder if he was "all there."

Any additional comments?

One of the worst books I've purchased with a credit. Terrible narrator. He has a STRONG Midwestern type accent, sounds nerdy, and talks way to fast, (this is the only audible book I've listened to where I had to run my iPod in slow mode.) The book itself is poorly written. Overly dramatic. One gets the impression that the subject is reveling in recounting his adventures and that he actually enjoyed every minute of them. Terrible, terrible, terrible!

Your report has been received. It will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.

Can't wait to hear more from this listener?

You can now follow your favorite reviewers on Audible.

When you follow another listener, we'll highlight the books they review, and even email* you a copy of any new reviews they write. You can un-follow a listener at any time to stop receiving their updates.

* If you already opted out of emails from Audible you will still get review emails by the listeners you follow.